GBI sketches generate leads in Hood case

Posted: Sunday, May 22, 2011

By Joe Johnson

Two months after two Athens-Clarke police officers were gunned down in the line of duty, investigators are narrowing in on an important piece of the puzzle they hope will tell them what all happened that fateful day.

Authorities last week released sketches of three men who were with accused cop-killer Jamie Hood minutes before they say he killed one of the officers and badly wounded the other - and tipsters seem to recognize who they are.

"The sketches have proved to be a vital piece of information in helping us to identify these subjects," said Jim Fullington, special agent in charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's Athens office. "We have received some leads from the sketches and are following up on those leads."

The suspects helped Hood to kidnap a man on March 22, but the victim escaped from Hood's car. Hood soon after shot and killed Senior Police Officer Elmer "Buddy" Christian and wounded Senior Police Officer Tony Howard as the officers assisted in the kidnapping investigation.

A GBI forensic artist made sketches of the suspects on Monday, after investigators found a witness who came face-to-face with them after kidnap victim Judon Brooks escaped from the trunk of Hood's car.

Authorities say Brooks is a witness in a murder investigation - the Dec. 28 shooting of Kenneth Omari Wray outside his home on Knottingham Drive.

"As you know, the reprehensible crimes committed on March 22 by Jamie Hood are numerous," Athens-Clarke Police Chief Jack Lumpkin said Friday. "The ACCPD has reasons to believe that prior to March 22 Jamie Hood committed other heinous crimes."

Investigators with the police department, district attorney's office and GBI have spent hundreds of hours gathering evidence against Hood in the officer shootings and his possible involvement in other crimes.

Detectives took out several search warrants in the case over the past two weeks - the contents are under court-ordered seal - and last month they took out seven more in a single day, also sealed.

The search warrants "are examples of ongoing investigative activities that are proceeding as expected," Lumpkin said. "Investigators continue to make progress toward our goal of securing from the grand jury appropriate and proper indictments."

Early on the afternoon of March 22, Hood lured Brooks to his parents' home off Spring Valley Road, saying he wanted to "show him something," police said.

But Hood led Brooks into a room where four masked gunmen confronted him. Hood brandished a pistol while the men secured Brooks' arms and legs, police said; Hood asked Brooks to give him "multiple addresses of various people," and told Brooks that "he was about to die if he couldn't get them some money."

After they tied up Brooks, the men put him in the trunk of Hood's Cadillac, and three of the suspects followed in Brooks' car as Hood drove away, police said. Brooks managed to pop the trunk and escape after Hood stopped for a red light on the east side of Athens.

Hood abandoned his car several blocks away, and he was spotted in West Athens in an SUV driven by his brother on Sycamore Drive, where police say he shot the officers.

The three men abandoned Brooks' car in an East Athens neighborhood, where they tried to get a ride from the witness, who last week helped the GBI artist make their sketches, police said.

Authorities don't know what happened to Hood's fourth accomplice after the kidnapping.

The bullets that were used to kill Wray and Christian, and wound Howard, were analyzed at the GBI's crime lab to see if they came from the same gun, but Fullington would not disclose the results of the testing.

"We continue to investigate both of (sets of shootings), and are looking at any and all evidence that may show a connection," Fullington said.

Lumpkin called the investigation a "monumental" undertaking, considering its many aspects.

After Hood shot the two officers on Sycamore Drive, he ran from the scene and carjacked a woman then abandoned her car, leading authorities from dozens of agencies on a four-day manhunt.

The search came to an end after Hood took nine people hostage at a home in the Creekstone neighborhood on Boley Drive in North Athens, and after hours of negotiations with authorities, he surrendered on live television.

"March 22 involves four different events and at least 13 victims," Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney Ken Mauldin said. "All law enforcement agencies - particularly the GBI, the GBI Crime Lab, the ACCPD - and our office are continuing to work diligently in this matter and to ready the case for presentation to the grand jury."

Hood is held without bail at the Barrow County Detention Center.

Meanwhile, investigators are hoping more people will recognize the sketches of Hood's accomplices and come forward. Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to the capture of each suspect.